Pellegrini: “We have to continue to work”.

It’s fun to watch you guys in the Champions League.
We played an excellent match today, on the pitch, it was more complicated than it may have seemed because they are a great team and, at some points, they put us in difficulty but we achieved an essential victory in order to qualify for the knockouts.

Is a new midfield being born?
Absolutely, getting to know each other is very important. Bryan and Steven are doing a great job. I’m especially happy for Bryan, who was one of the best on the pitch today. Every Sunday it is always easier to understand each other and this is an absolutely positive thing.

Will essentially having qualified allow you to think of the league now?
We must certainly have to reach a position in the league that better reflects the quality of our team, but I can not say that we can give up in the Champions League to think about the league — because that would imply we weren’t focused on the league before. This has never been the case even though we encountered some setbacks. There are several new faces in the team and we’re still getting to know each other, this takes time.
Has the goal in the Derby “unlocked” you?
I’ve never thought about that, I’ve always thought about working hard because I knew that was the only way I’d be able to free myself. The goal in the Derby was a good release because I wanted to so badly score by first goal in the Derby — scoring that goal was unique but the path I made last season was more important. Now it’s important to keep working — it’s not like we were all poor before and we’ve suddenly turned into phenoms, we have to continue working.

The Editor of RomaPress.us, John has been covering Italian football as a freelance journalist for over 10 years and has appeared in various publications including ASRoma.com, EuroFantasyLeague.com, and ESPN.